Thursday, April 22, 2010

Dirty Past of Supreme Court Advocate Qazi Anwar & Lawyers Movement.

ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) has filed a petition in the Supreme Court, challenging the judicial commission on judges’ appointment. Talking to media outside Supreme Court, President SCBA Qazi Anwar said that Hamid Khan, Rashid A Rizvi and he himself will appear before the court. He said the present assembly is not constitutional making body but a legislation making institution. Qazi Anwar said the Indian Supreme Court had also declared constitutional amendments as void. Replying to a question about Aitizaz Ahsan and Ali Ahmad Kurd, he denied to give the reply and said lawyers community from Chitral to Karachi stands behind them. REFERENCE: SCB challenges judges commission Updated at: 1545 PST, Wednesday, April 21, 2010 http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=103340

Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president Qazi Anwer said that neither he is an agent of the Chief Justice nor he termed all the Parliamentarians as ‘smugglers’. He said that he would be happy if the Parliament handed him death sentence. Talking to media outside the Supreme Court, he said that ‘smugglers’ can be part of the Parliament but without verification; they were abused in the National Assembly, Senate and provincial assemblies. He said that Fauzia Wahab called him mad and also said that ‘I need treatment in hospital.’ He said that judiciary is a professional institution whereas the Parliament can do law-making under the limits. Qazi Anwer said that he always advocated the oppressed and nobody would be allowed to interfere in works of independent judiciary. REFERENCE: SCBA President Says He Is Not Agent Of CJP Wednesday, March 31, 2010 at 1:06 pm under Pakistan News http://www.apakistannews.com/scba-president-says-he-is-not-agent-of-cjp-173247

LAHORE: Qazi Mohammad Anwar was elected president of the Supreme Court Bar Association on Wednesday. According to unofficial results of the elections held for offices of the association, Qazi Anwar got 401 votes in Lahore, 118 in Karachi, 19 in Abbottabad, 25 in Bahawalpur, 32 in Quetta, 133 in Islamabad, 55 in Multan, 43 in Peshawar and five in Sukkur. His rival Barrister Bachaa bagged 340 votes in Lahore, 73 in Karachi, 11 in Abbottabad, 21 in Bahawalpur, 31 in Quetta, 137 in Islamabad, 26 in Multan and 50 in Peshawar. He did not get any vote in Sukkur. Talking to newsmen, Qazi Anwar, who belongs to the Professional Group, vowed to keep the lawyers’ movement intact because, he said, there were still many challenges for the nation. Raja Zulqarnain and Syed Rifaqat Hussain, also belonging to the Professional Group, were elected as secretary and finance secretary, respectively. Mian Waheed Akhter, Malik Manzoor Hussain and K.A. Wahab were elected as vice presidents for Punjab, the NWFP and Sindh, respectively. Amanullah Kanrani Baloch and Ahsanuddin Sheikh had been elected unopposed as vice president and additional secretary, Balochistan, respectively. - PESHAWAR: The Awami National Party (ANP)-backed Malgary Wakeelan has nominated senior advocate and former senator Qazi Muhammad Anwar for the office of president in the forthcoming election for the Supreme Court Bar Association. It has been learnt that a meeting of Malgary Wakeelan, chaired by its provincial president Abdul Lateef Afridi, decided to field Qazi Anwar for the contest. The post of SCBA’s president is filled on rotational basis and this time it is the turn of the NWFP. The annual SCBA election would be held in October for which the date would be announced later. The meeting was attended by senior members of the association, including its provincial secretary general Rafiq Mohmand, Fazlur Rahman Khan, Ishtiaq Ibrahim, Sher Afgan Khattak, Qaiser Rasheed and Raza Khan. The meeting considered the names of Qazi Anwar and Barrister Baachaa for the office and opted for the former. It was learnt that Barrister Baachaa would be contesting for the office without the ANP’s support after being assured of backing by certain lawyers’ groups. Qazi Anwar is member of the Pakistan Bar Council and has also served as NWFP advocate general. He was also elected to the Senate on ANP ticket. He was one of the six lawyers who had represented Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry when General (R) Pervez Musharraf filed the controversial reference against the top judge in March 2007. REFERENCES: Qazi Anwar elected SCBA president Thursday, 29 Oct, 2009 http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/12-qazi+anwar+elected+scba+president--bi-10 ANP names Qazi Anwar for SCBA top office Friday, August 07, 2009 Bureau report http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=191908

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) has issued notice to Qazi Muhammad Anwar, President, Supreme Court Bar Association, to appear on February 14 and submit reply for his alleged involvement in possessing explosives and detonators. Barrister Bacha, a leading lawyer of the Peshawar High Court, had filed an application with the PBC, seeking disqualification of Qazi Muhammad Anwar for being a convicted person in a case of possessing hand grenades and detonators. The Executive Committee of the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) has issued notice to Qazi Anwar to explain his position, Barrister Bacha told The News on Monday in the Supreme Court. The PBC, the main forum of the country’s legal community, is the main licence issuance authority to the lawyers of the country. Qazi Anwar is also facing rigging charges in the last annual elections of the association. His opponent and runner-up in the SCBA elections, Barrister Bacha had also moved an application to the committee for probing the matter. In his application, Barrister Bacha has alleged that Qazi Anwar is a convicted person for having grenades and detonators in his possession thus a convicted person can neither be an advocate of the Supreme Court nor could and should represent the SCBA as president as he is patently disqualified. Qazi Anwar, however, reportedly said that the Lahore High Court had set aside his conviction in the case. Meanwhile, Barrister Bacha told reporters that Qazi Anwar was sentenced nine monthsí imprisonment by a military court for possessing explosives in 1979, adding that the Lahore High Court curtailed his punishment; however, his conviction was still intact. REFERENCE: PBC issues notice to Qazi Anwar By Sohail Khan Tuesday, February 02, 2010 http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=27023

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) will be moved today (Sunday) for disqualification of Qazi Muhammad Anwar, President, Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), for being a convicted person possessing grenades and detonators in the past. The Executive Committee of the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) is meeting today (Sunday) in the Supreme Court and, besides other issues, would focus on the rigging complaints, filed by Barrister Baacha, the runner-up and opponent of SCBA President Qazi Muhammad Anwar. As dark clouds surrounding the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President, Qazi Muhammad Anwar, for alleged rigging in its annual election, his opponent Barrister Baacha is moving another application against the sitting president, seeking his disqualification. “Qazi Muhammad Anwar is admittedly a convicted person for having grenades and detonators in his possession, thus a convicted person can neither be an advocate of the Supreme Court nor could and should represent the SCBA as president as he is patently disqualified,” says Barrister Baacha in his application.

The copy of the application available with The News further reads that the respondent, Qazi Muhammad Anwar, has admitted his conviction and sentence, which is placed on Pakistan Law Journal (PLJ) 1998, Peshawar, page No 200. The applicant (Baacha) requested the Executive Committee of the Pakistan Bar Council that as Qazi Muhammad Anwar was a convicted person, therefore, an order may be passed immediately, restraining him from acting as the Supreme Court Bar Association president. He also prayed to the committee to direct the senior vice president of the Supreme Court Bar Association to act as SCBA president till such time that the appeal against the election of Qazi Anwar was finally decided as was done in the case of controversial election between Malik Muhammad Munir and Raja Haq Nawaz. Barrister Baacha said that in 1979, some grenades and detonators were recovered from the possession of Qazi Muhammad Anwar, and he was later convicted in the case and sentenced to nine months imprisonment. Barrister Baacha was the opponent of Qazi Muhammad Anwar in the last annual election of the Supreme Court Bar Association and had challenged the victory of the sitting president and had filed a complaint with the Executive Committee of Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), alleging vast rigging in the election. The PBC Executive Committee, which is meeting today (Sunday) with its Chairman Chaudhry Nasrullah Warraich, is also expected to take up the application filed by advocate Hashmat Habib, alleging that senior lawyers of the Supreme Court, including Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada, Malik Muhammad Qayyum, Law Minister Dr Babar Awan and Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, had received millions of rupees in Haris Steel Mills scandal. He had submitted that these lawyers had violated Article 10 of the Cannons of Profession Conduct and Etiquettes. REFERENCE: PBC being moved for Qazi’s disqualification By Sohail Khan Sunday, January 31, 2010 http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=221755

Barrister Ahsan accused the lawyers who used to appear before the Dogar court and PCO judges of advocating against the supremacy of the parliament, an accusation that was taken seriously by Advocate Akram Sheikh who alleged that Mr Ahsan had appeared for the independence of judiciary only once in his career by defending the chief justice against his suspension. Mr Ahsan appeared on behalf of the federal government in the 1996 Al-Jihad Trust case to oppose the independence of judiciary, said Mr Sheikh who is representing one of the petitioners who have challenged the 18th Amendment. Mr Ahsan also used to appear before the military courts, he alleged suggesting that he should not pelt stones while sitting inside a glass house. On apex court’s authority, he said that the Supreme Court could not only strike down the 18th Amendment but could also suspend it as an interim measure. Both senior counsel, Akram Sheikh and Aitzaz Ahsan, also had a brief tiff at the outer gates of the apex court. Senior counsel Abdul Hafeez Pirzada believes that parliament that had made significant changes in the constitution through the 18th Amendment is not a constituent assembly and quoted the 1975 Indian case, namely Indira Gandhi versus Raj Narayan, in which the Indian Supreme Court had struck down certain amendments. Amendments are meant to improve things and not to destroy things, he said. A.K. Dogar was of the view that the power of a judicial review of the apex court was part of a basic structure which could not be touched by the parliament. REFERENCE: Aitzaz, Akram spar over parliament By Nasir Iqbal Wednesday, 21 Apr, 2010 http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/19-aitzaz,-akram-spar-over-parliament-140-hh-02

Qazi Anwar doesn't even spare his own colleague Aitzaz Ahsan

LAHORE: Lawyers have accused Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Aitzaz Ahsan of sabotaging their movement for restoration of the judiciary. Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) member Parvaiz Anayat Malik said the SCBA president had played a “double game” which did not last long. NWFP Bar Council Vice-Chairman Qazi Naeem said Aitzaz had ruined the lawyers’ long march after ending it inconclusively. On February 24, PBC members accused Aitzaz of taking a ‘solo flight’ when he announced to hold a long march to Islamabad on March 9. Withdrawing his long march call following the PBC’s reservations, he, instead, announced a black flag week between March 9 and 16. Former PBC Executive Committee chairman Qazi Anwar said that lawyers supported Aitzaz’s black flag week to maintain unity among their ranks. Relations between the SCBA president and his party, the PPP, also deteriorated when a foreign newspaper quoted him as saying on June 2 that “most corruption allegations against Asif Ali Zardari and Benazir Bhutto were justified”. However, Aitzaz denied as saying so. Lawyers have also accused him of striking a deal with the PML-N when he decided not to conclude the long march with a sit-in outside Parliament House. Aitzaz said elements against the lawyers’ movement were alone trying to sabotage it by creating rifts among movement leaders, adding that these elements would fail in their designs. He denied the impression that he had benefited from the lawyers’ movement, saying he did not avail the opportunity to contest the general elections and by-elections when his victory was evident due to his popularity during the movement. REFERENCE:‘Aitzaz sabotaged lawyers’ movement’ Saturday, October 25, 2008 rana tanveer http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\10\25\story_25-10-2008_pg7_36

LAHORE, April 25: Chief Ehtesab Commissioner Justice Ghulam Mujaddid Mirza has dropped three references against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as they have either no substance and merit or they don't pertain to the period with which the Ehtesab Act deals. In a fourth reference, the CEC has excluded the prime minister as respondent but has referred the matter for inquiry and investigation to the Ehtesab Bureau. The other respondent in the reference against whom the EB will now carry out investigations, is NWFP Chief Minister Mehtab Ahmed Khan Abbasi. Knowledgeable sources say that proceedings on many other references against the prime minister and others are in progress. Records summoned by the CEC in various cases have reached the Ehtesab commission and are being examined. In the light of the records, Justice Mirza will decide whether or not to refer the matters to the Ehtesab benches of the relevant high courts. A reference against Prime Minister Sharif is that he offered Rs10 million to ANP Senator Qazi Muhammad Anwar to get his support for the Shariat Bill. The CA-15 bill, though passed by the National Assembly, is yet to be approved by the Senate as the ruling party does not have the required two-third majority in the Upper House. Maj-Gen Sikandar Hayat Khan, who has recently been removed as chairman of the prime minister's monitoring and evaluation cell, is the co-respondent in the said reference. After going through the relevant evidence and record, justice Mirza ruled on Saturday that the complaint was devoid of merit and thus there was no need to initiate further proceedings on it in the light of the Ehtesab Act. "The complaint is, accordingly, ordered to be filed," the CEC said in his four-page judgment. It was alleged in the complaint that Maj-Gen Hayat, on the direction of the prime minister offered Rs 10 million to Sen Qazi Anwar to support the CA-15 Bill in the Senate. The complainant, a PPP leader, appeared before the CEC on April 21 at Islamabad in response to the commission's notice. He made an application under section 20 of the Ehtesab Act for summoning Sen Anwar, an advocate of the Supreme Court. He also said that Gen Hayat and the editor and reporter of weekly Tribune, Islamabad, be summoned. In addition to this application, he also produced a copy of the weekly, dated November 22 to 28, 1998, which carried an article on the subject.

Having gone through the article, the CEC said: "In my considered view the article does not advance the complainant's case. On the contrary there are substantial and material discrepancies and contradictions in the narration of the Tribune's article and the contents of the complaint. "For example," the CEC said, "in the complaint it is stated that it was Maj-Gen Sikandar Hayat who had offered bribe to Sen Qazi Anwar in Peshawar in the last week of October, 1998, and that the former was sent by the prime minister to negotiate the deal and to offer Rs10 million which the general was carrying as a token money in a briefcase". However, the CEC said in his order that the article did not substantiate that it was the Gen Hayat who had contacted the ANP leader and offered him the bribe. The CEC observed that "it is quite obvious that the stance taken in the complaint is irreconcilable with the interview given by the senator to the weekly and cannot be conformed on any plain. It also does not stand to reason that the token money of Rs10 million was offered and that too for one vote. It also does not stand to reason that the bribe was offered to Qazi Anwar when he was present on the premises of the Peshawar High Court.

Justice Mirza said: "In view of the above, I am of the opinion that the complaint is devoid of merit and, therefore, it is not necessary to initiate proceedings on it under the Ehtesab Act, 1997. The complaint is, accordingly, ordered to be filed". Yet another case dismissed by the CEC is that the prime minister, without any authority, had allotted 18 plots to a single family. A similar reference dismissed by the CEC says that the PM allotted plots to Ms Fatima Ishrat Iqbal and her daughter Nuzhat Iqbal in the Area Development Scheme 1, Rawalpindi. Justice Mirza said the case did not pertain to the period the Ehtesab Act deals with and was thus dropped. Another reference closed by the CEC was based on the allegation that the prime minister had awarded Senate ticket to law minister Khalid Anwar. Justice Mirza ruled that the proper forum for this matter was the chief election commissioner and not the chief Ehtesab commissioner. The fourth case pertained to illegal acquisition of precious lands in Abbottabad district. The CEC ruled that the matter was examined but due to lack of substantial evidence against the prime minister, his name was deleted as respondent. However, he referred the matter against NWFP Chief Minister Mehtab Abbasi to the Ehtesab Bureau for investigation. REFERENCE: CEC drops 3 references against Nawaz Ashraf Mumtaz DAWN WIRE SERVICE Week Ending:01 May 1999 Issue:05/18 http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/1999/01May99.html

PESHAWAR, July 17: Awami National Party (ANP) has again expressed dissatisfaction over the government policies, and resolved that unless it is removed, the country could not be steered out of present predicament. The Deputy Secretary General of the ANP, Qazi Mohammed Anwar, a dissident of the PPP and a former advocate general of the NWFP, at a Press conference here on Monday released decisions taken at ANP's Central Committee's meeting held under the presidentship of the party's chief, Mohammed Ajmal Khattak, at Rawalpindi on Friday last. Replying to a question regarding MQM's demand for a separate province, Qazi claimed that the MQM chief, Altaf Hussain had given a written assurance to the ANP that his party would never demand for the division of Sindh and termed it a propaganda by the government to portray MQM's negative impression to achieve its 'nefarious designs'. REFERENCE: No demand for separate province, Altaf assures ANP From A Correspondent DAWN WIRE SERVICE Week Ending:20 July, 1995 Issue:01/28 http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/1995/20Jly95.html

Qazi Anwar was sentenced nine months in jail for possessing explosives in 1979, adding Lahore High Court curtailed his punishment; however, his charge was kept unchanged. PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court’s Barrister Bacha requested Pakistan Bar Council’s Executive Committee for the ineligibility of Supreme Court Bar Association President Qazi Muhammed Anwar, Geo News reported Monday. Talking to Geo News, Bacha said Qazi Anwar was sentenced nine months in jail for possessing explosives in 1979, adding Lahore High Court curtailed his punishment; however, his charge was kept unchanged. Bacha said a convicted person cannot be the representative of the lawyers; therefore, he demanded the removal of Qazi from his office. He said the PBC’s executive council directed Qazi Anwar to appear before the body on February 14 for explanation in this connection. REFERENCE: PBC approached for Qazi Anwar’s ineligibility Updated at: 1445 PST, Monday, February 01, 2010 http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=97613

Sindh Assembly members on Monday took strong exception to the statement of President Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Qazi Anwar and termed it an insult to the august house. PPP’s parliamentary leader Pir Mazhar-ul-Haq said that the SCBA president had breached the privilege of legislators by saying that “smugglers and rogues” were sitting in the parliament. He condemned such attitude of the leader of lawyers’ body, saying that the lawyers were supposed to follow their code of conduct, which calls for using cautious language and avoiding allegations. He said that good and bad people happen to be everywhere but it was not advisable to generalize the matter. Minister for Law Mohammed Ayaz Soomro said that parliament was a supreme body that makes the constitution. MQM’s Shoaib Bukhari said that Qazi Anwar has “belittled” his stature by using such awkward language. He said that Supreme Court exists because of parliament, adding, if the lawyers continued this attitude the people might stop respecting them. Speaker Nisar Ahmed Khuhro observed that the legislators could move a privilege motion to summon the SCBA president before the PA body. -ISLAMABAD: The statement of President Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Qazi Anwar in which he labelled the parliamentarians as “smugglers” made the legislators protest strongly against these remarks in the National Assembly and urged the House to move a joint privilege motion against these remarks. Raising the issue on a point of order on Monday, PML-Q legislator Waqas Akram Sheikh contended that the SCBA president had declared all the parliamentarians “thieves and smugglers” without any evidence and thus insulted parliament that is a supreme body. He proposed for a joint privilege motion of the House against such remarks so that no body could level charges against parliamentarians without any evidence.PML-N legislator Khawaja Saad Rafiq declared the SCBA president as an unbalanced person, who should not be taken seriously yet he opposed any motion against him. But PPP legislator Nadeem Afzal Gondal, who supported Sheikh Waqas Akram’s view of presenting the joint privilege motion against the SCBA president’s remarks, at the same expressed the desire that some anchor persons and a section of the media should also be included in it. However, independent legislator Saima Bharwana and PPP legislator Syed Zafar Ali Shah opposed the proposal to move a privilege motion. Saima Akhtar Bharwana said rather than focusing on these remarks there is a need to question those legislators, who spent two years in the House with fake degrees. “The government should go into a review petition with a plea to put a life ban on those who got fake degrees and recover all the money from them spent in two years on their perks and privileges,” she added. While Syed Zafar Ali Shah was of view that rather than focusing on this issue there is need to consume the energies on the issues relating to people. Earlier, raising the issue on a point of order, Sheikh Waqas Akram suggested that the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms was still working so they should be requested to add a clause to the Constitution that anybody who accused the parliamentarians without any evidence would be liable to contempt of parliament. REFERENCES: MPAs take strong exception to SCBA president’s comment By our correspondent Tuesday, March 30, 2010 Karachi http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=231614 Qazi Anwar under fire in NA By Asim Yasin Tuesday, March 30, 2010 http://thenews.jang.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=28072